Don't Say Goodbye
by Maetel
Summary: Part Five in the Insomnia Series. Set after Sailor Stars but before Crystal Tokyo. What did the senshi do during their time of peace? More precisely, what did Minako do?


Don't Say Goodbye

AN: I've taken a few liberties with this chapter since it takes place after the end of the manga. There are references to PGSM, mostly with the names of the Shitennou post Beryl. One last part left, I've decided. It'll take place in Crystal Tokyo.

By the way – Sorry about the wait in between parts. Had a major idea for an original story come to my mind and it just wouldn't let go. Felt like posting this as a late anniversary story. Ten years since I joined , and you can definitely tell a difference. (I hope)

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><p>It happened. Mamoru and Usagi were finally married. After years of battles and countless enemies, she'd finally seen her prince and princess—No, king and queen, finally happy together. She just wished that he'd been there to see them with her. To celebrate the fact that not only were their respective monarchs joined, but that a new princess was going to be reentering their lives.<p>

She'd been thinking about Kunzite more and more often lately. How could she explain the way she'd felt him during the time she'd been dead, her body in Galaxia's control? How could she explain the way she hadn't wanted to come back? It was only at Usagi's beckoning that she came.

She wrapped her arms around herself and stood out on the balcony, watching the sunrise. It always left a distinct loneliness in her when the moon set. An after effect of having spent almost her entire previous incarnation up there.

She listened as the door to her flat closed, her latest distraction leaving. She'd tried, honestly she had. Usagi had told them all to discover life without their mutual duty. Rei had taken over the temple, Ami was currently in Germany studying medicine, and Makoto was in France studying with the master pastry chefs of the world. She was the only one who hadn't moved on completely.

She'd even taken up her old role of Sailor V in the movies. The ultimate form of going back for her. The work was exhausting, but she welcomed the way it made her brain go numb. That was until she saw her new costar.

A young man with dark hair and warm lilac eyes. His familiarity was striking when they spoke, and it led to Minako haunting the local clubs searching for something, someone, to take her mind off of Shin.

They rarely, if ever, worked, and only left her feeling guilty in the end. She wondered what he would think if he knew the lengths she went to in order to forget about him and her loneliness.

She sighed when her watch's alarm went off and realized it was time to go to work.

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><p>Minako fell to her knees during filming that afternoon, her head pulsing as a barrage of emotions filled her mind.<p>

"Someone get a medic," she heard the director call as Shin raced over to her.

"Minako-chan, are you all right?" he asked, cradling her face in his hands.

"Something's wrong…" she murmured softly, her love's face flashing in her mind. "Kunzite… I'm scared."

Shin held her as she lost consciousness, her cornflower eyes rolling up into her head. He gently stroked her hair with a soft frown on his face. He watched as medics raced over to her and examined her, only to find nothing. Perhaps she'd gotten too over heated, despite the way her body temperature was normal and the room was cool.

"No," he spat when they mentioned taking her to the hospital. "Wait until she awakens. If she chooses to go, then let her go, but don't force her to awaken somewhere like that."

The medics looked from one to another before silently nodding. They'd abide by his wishes. Something told them he didn't really have a choice.

Minako woke a few hours later in a trailer she didn't quite recognize. Her head throbbed as she looked around.

"Are you all right?" she heard him ask, his baritone voice sending shivers down her spine. She looked up and saw him holding out a bottle of water to her.

"I—I'm all right," she whispered as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She checked her messages and saw that there was one from Mamoru saying how Usagi had to be taken to the emergency room. Contractions were starting up in only the seventh month. "What time was it when I collapsed?"

"About eight. We'd only been—"

"Always connected," she murmured, interrupting him. "I… I need to call my friend. I'll… I'll be right back."

He nodded silently as she stood and walked out of his trailer, dialing a number on her phone.

He peered out of his window, watching as she looked around before stalking off away from the set. He frowned before deciding to follow her. He didn't want to run the risk of her collapsing again. Not by herself.

Silently, he followed her, making sure she didn't notice his presence. He watched as she stopped, visibly trembling as she stood there. He couldn't make out what she was saying, but there was some sort of pain to her stance. He wanted to go comfort her, but he didn't want to give away his position. He didn't want to scare her.

That was when he saw it. She lifted a hand to the sky and shouted something like the henshin phrase she used during filming.

"Venus crystal power, make up!"

Her body exploded in an eruption of light and stars, her costume changing into something similar but entirely different.

Blue shifted to three layers of orange. The crop top turned into a leotard that clung to her skin. Wings erupted from her back. Her hair shone of pure gold in the light. He gasped when he realized that not only had he been working with the original Sailor V, he'd been working with Sailor Venus herself.

She turned and looked at him with tearful gold eyes before disappearing in a flash of light.

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><p>That night Shin slept fitfully, his mind filled with images of himself with his natural hair color. He looked natural enough with the brown, but he'd been born with silver. He slowly began to realize why as his subconscious was barraged by an array of memories of Minako as Sailor Venus as she was known in the beginning. She stood in his arms, stood away from him smiling. There were images without her, of him standing by the side of a dark haired young man he felt the urge to call Endymion.<p>

And then came the deaths. He had run Minako through with his own blade before she had launched an all-out attack on him. He'd woken up screaming at the agony that ripped through him. He looked around to see his trailer, but soon…

The images never stopped. He was in England with his silver hair. Her eyes had haunted him when she was younger. When they were both younger. The cornflower blue that had been so full of sadness. She looked at him and he saw hope if only for a moment. Then the nights they spent together. Only two, but they'd been nights he'd cherished. That was until he found out her secret.

She was trying to lure him from his queen. Trying to seduce him to the witch's side… Except… He believed her when she said she loved him. The sincerity and the pain in her eyes…

Shin gripped his head as he flashed to seeing his brother and friends lying in crystal caskets. Shiroi… No… Zoicite… He wasn't old enough to have passed, yet… He sobbed softly as he recalled each of their deaths. And then their resurrection at the reappearance of the ginzuishou.

She'd spoken the truth. He'd loved her and she him. In the Silver Millennium, he'd known happiness in her arms. He was waiting for the alliance to become official before declaring his intentions for the young princess of Venus. Beryl had other plans for that, he'd soon realize.

He'd blacked out as memories of his last death washed over him.

"Shin-san," he heard her whisper, beckoning him back to the land of the living. His eyes opened and he stared up at her, her eyes their cornflower blue once more.

"Venus," he murmured softly, lifting a hand. "I'm sorry."

She froze at the sound of her title slipping from his lips.

"I've caused you so much pain… I wanted to see you happy," he continued, lifting a hand to her cheek. "Not crying. Never crying."

"Shin?" she whispered. "What are you talking—"

"You freed me from Beryl's control. You guided me," he stated, and it finally clicked in her head.

He didn't just look like Kunzite… He was.

She stood, jumping back from him. She'd come to talk to him about what he'd seen, not who he was. She had to get away. She… She couldn't deal with this. Not with ChibiUsa having been born prematurely, though she should have seen it coming. It had been Usagi-chan's birthday. They all knew what the date would mean.

"Please… no…" she whimpered softly before silently calling forth her power. She shook her head and teleported away from the room, leaving Shin wondering just where she had gone.


End file.
